English hegemony?
Of the 6,912 known living languages listed in the Ethnologue, a total of 516 are classified as nearly extinct. The Ethnologue classifies a language this way when “only a few elderly speakers are still living”.
Yoruba language, spoken by the Yoruba, large ethnic group in West Africa, is not on the list, but according to Dr Frederick Fasheun, it soon could be. Dr Fasheun is the facilitator of a recent two day summit held in Nigeria to discuss the future of Yoruba language and culture. In this article in the Nigerian Tribune, he says he regrets that the Yoruba have abandoned their language in favour of English (among other languages).
He believes that it is time to teach and study Yoruba language in the country’s education system so that it does not “become vestigial and gradually go into extinction”. He also warns that Yoruba culture is being threatened in the face of a “rampaging American subculture”.
So, what, if anything, should we do to prevent Yoruba making the Ethnologue’s list? Is this an inevitable result of the globalisation of English language and American culture? Should we just accept this and watch the number of known living languages get smaller? Are we, in the English teaching profession, contributing to this? What do you think? Post a comment blow…
January 20th, 2007 at 5:24 pm
Such an interesting issue…on the one hand having one “international language” like English makes communication between people (even from two non-English speaking countries) easier, but it would really be a shame to lose other languages as a result. I’ve talked about this with students in Europe and their general opinion is “I’d never stop speaking my own language”…but a lot of people in the world feel that they need English so much that it makes sense to have their kids learn in English and (maybe eventually) grow up speaking English. I have a student who speaks with his cousin in English because the cousin lives abroad and no longer speaks my student’s language. Quite a topic…
January 25th, 2007 at 1:41 am
Such an important one this one. I currently teach migrants and refugees in Adelaide, Australia. Like Katie I have discussed this with colleagues and students and have had a variey of responses. I believe we are spreading a language that is becoming imperialistic because of globalisation and it’s consequent needs. What is important for us teachers of this potentially hegemonic language is to impress on our students the culture affiliations they have with their own language and identity are the root of their real selves and the English language is a tool for them to achieve what they want in other fileds.
The American sub-culture takeover spoken about in the article is so apparent in every country I have taught in ( Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, China )and it saddens and sickens me because the target populations of these sub-cultures which are usually “brand driven” are “looking at life through rose coloured glasses” and I believe we as teachers can inform and debate with our students on these issues which gives us the oportunity to be ecucators as well as teachers of the Eng Lang.